Iran’s regime executes minority member Mohammad Salas

Iran, June 18, 2018 - Mohammad Salas, a member of Iran’s Sufi (Dervish Gonabadi) minority community, was executed early Monday morning under orders issued by the regime’s so-called judiciary. This hideous measure was carried out despite a domestic and international campaign calling on Tehran to halt his death sentence.

Salas had emphasized his innocence time and again, adding he was forced under torture to accept accusations he had no role in.

Mohammad Salas was executed on Monday (June 18, 2018) in Tehran

He was innocent

Zeinab Taheri, one of the lawyers who defended Salas, had underscored on Sunday she has “undeniable evidence indicating the innocence” of Salas.

“With years of legal experience, I give you my word that he is innocent and I have undeniable evidence proving he is innocent. Why all the sudden rush?”

The judiciary can arrest me for “defending an innocent person” because she cannot sell her “dignity,” Taheri added.

“Iran’s judiciary has no intention to hear my words about Mohammad Salas’ innocence and this is why I am calling on people in Iran and across the globe, alongside international officials, to provide urgent support,” Taheri said in another tweet.

A published sound clip of Mohammad Salas has him saying he is innocent and provided coerced confession after “hours of torture.”

Iranian regime authorities informed the Salas family on Saturday to refer to Gohardasht Prison of Karaj, west of Tehran, for their final visit as reports indicated he was on the verge of being executed.

Salas was arrested in February during the Sufi (Dervish Gonabadi) community protests. He was eventually sentenced to death through an arbitrary process and in violation of the regime’s own so-called laws. This ruling was then upheld by the regime’s supreme court despite Salas saying time and again how he was forced into coerced confessions under torture to accept accusations he had no role in.

Prior to Salas’ execution this morning, 97 members of the European Parliament had issued a letter demanding his execution be halted.

Amnesty International had also called for the cancellation of this execution.

Social media users had in the past few days been very active in launching campaigns seeking to prevent Salas’ execution.

The cruelty continues. The Iranian regime tortured political prisoner Mohammad Salas into a false confession then hanged the 51 year-old this morning. This criminal regime must fall.